Poker machine having binary coded rotatable drums

ABSTRACT

A POKER MACHINE OF THE TYPE HAVING FIVE REELS ON WHICH INDICIA OF CARDS ARE DISPLAYED AND WINNING COMBINATIONS DETERMINED ACCORDING TO PARTICULAR COMBINATIONS DISPLAYED IN A WINDOW CHARACTERIZED BY CODING EACH OF THE REELS ON A SIDE SURFACE THEREOF WITH ELECTRICAL INFORMATION IN DIGITAL FORM CORRESPONDING TO THE INDICIA ON THE ADJACENT PERIPHERY. THE DIGITAL INFORMATION OF THE STOPPED REELS IS FED TO A LOGIC UNIT TO DETERMINE THE PRESENCE OF WINNING COMBINATIONS AND CAUSE THE APPROPRIATE PAY OFF.

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T M from 'Sfra/Qhf rm I United States Patent Office 3,606,337 PatentedSept. 20, 1971 3,606,337 POKER MACHINE HAVING BINARY CODED ROTATABLEDRUMS Laurie Edward Larsen, Auburn, New South Wales, and Roger MarkMichie, Wentworthville, New South Wales, Australia, assignors toStandard Telephones and Cables Pty, Limited, Alexandria, New SouthWales, Australia Filed Mar. 24, 1969, Ser. No. 809,511 Int. Cl. A631?N18 US. Cl. 273143R 12 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A poker machineof the type having five reels on which indicia of cards are displayedand winning combinations determined according to particular combinationsdisplayed in a window characterized by coding each of the reels on aside surface thereof with electrical information in digital formcorresponding to the indicia on the adjacent periphery. The digitalinformation of the stopped reels is fed to a logic unit to determine thepresence of winning combinations and cause the appropriate pay otf.

This invention relates to poker machines. Mechanical limitations onpresent day poker machines prevent the use of more than four reels orwheels. The present invention enables poker machines having five reelsto be manufactured, thus enabling pay-outs to be based on ordinarywinning combinations in poker. However the invention can also be appliedto poker machines having only three or four reels.

According to this invention a poker machine of the type having reels onwhich indicia are displayed, winning combinations being characterised byparticular combinations of indicia displayed in a window, ischaracterised in that electrical information in digital formcorresponding to the indicia displayed is taken from the stopped reelsand fed into a logic unit, an output being obtained from the logic unitif a paying combination is shown by the stopped reels, said outputcausing a pay-out of the prescribed amount to be made.

Reference will now be made to the accompanying drawings in which FIG. 1is a diagrammatic view from the front of a set of five poker-machinereels,

FIG. 2 is a diagrammatic view of one reel looking in the direction ofthe arrow A in FIG. 1,

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary view of portion of a reel at the sensingposition, showing a pattern corresponding to the ten of clubs in onepossible coding system,

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of the logic and payout mechanism,

FIGS. 5 to 15 are logic diagrams of equipment in the logic unit of FIG.4,

FIG. 5 shows the logic diagram of the equipment used to determineinequality or equality existing in the ten possible unique pairs,

FIG. 6 shows the logic diagram of the equipment which makes the pairstest to ascertain whether a pair of cards exists on any two adjacentwheels,

FIG. 7 shows the logic diagram of the equipment used for the test fortwo pairs of cards,

FIG. 8 shows the logic diagram of the equipment used for the test forFull House,

FIG. 9 shows the logic diagram of the equipment used for the test Threeof a Kind,

FIG. 10 shows the logic diagram of the equipment used for the test forFour of a Kind.

FIG. 11 shows the logic diagram of the equipment used for the test for aStraight,

FIG. 12 shows the logic diagram of the equipment used for the test for aFlush,

FIG. 13 shows the logic diagram of the equipment used for the test for aStraight or Running Flush,

FIG. 14 shows the logic diagram of the equipment used for the test for aRoyal Routine,

FIG. 15 shows the logic diagram of the equipment used for the test forGold Award.

Referring now to FIGS. 1 to 3, a poker machine is representeddiagrammatically by the five reels 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 each of which bears onits circumference representations of the cards in a pack of cards, suchas is indicated on wheel 5 by marking -10 clubs.

The mechanism for causing the reels to spin when a coin has beeninserted and for stopping the spinning reels to give a result have notbeen shown since they may be of any conventional type. Each reel carrieson one fiat face a copper-clad laminate ring 6 which is etched accordingto a predetermined binary code. The information provided by the etchedpatterns is extracted by the spring wire or strip contacts 7, 8, 9, 10,11, 12, 13 which bear on what are in effect seven concentric tracks.Contacts 7 to 12 are for sensing, while contact 13 applies a supplyvoltage to the innermost ring, which ring is continuous. In the machineshown the sensing position is at the top of the reel, while the viewingposition is at right angles thereto, as shown by the viewing window 14in FIG. 2.

To enable the computer to examine the group of five cards showing in theviewing window of the machine, the Face Value and Suit of each card iscoded, a Binary Coded number being allotted for each card in a normalpack of cards, and sensing means translates the Binary Coded number intoan electrical signal suitable for computation.

To facilitate computation, the Binary Coded Number is divided into afour bit number for the Face value giving 16 possible numbers, and a twobit number for the Suit giving 4 possible Suits. A typical arrangementis as follows:

Ace 1000 2 0100 3 1100 4 0010 5 1010 6 0110 7 1110 8 0001 9 1001 10 0101Jack 1101 Queen 0011 King 1011 Hearts 00 Clubs 01 Spades 11 Diamonds ..v10

so that, for example 10 of Clubs=010101 as is shown in the example ofFIG. 3.

When a spring contact makes contact with a conducting part of a track,it is energised from the supply contact and supply track: this voltageis interpreted as a binary 1. If however, the contact touches an areawhere the conducting surface has been removed by etching, then novoltage will appear on it and the computer will interpret it as a binary0. In FIG. 3 the shaded areas represent etched or non-conducting areas,so that, reading from the top, the contacts would sense the binarynumber 010101, which is the 10' of clubs.

Referring now to FIG. 4, positional informatilon from the stopped reels1 to is processed in the reel encoder 1' to 5', the outputs of which arefed to a logic unit 15. In the logic unit a decision is made accordingto which cards are displayed in the viewing window, and, if a payingcombination exists, an output from the logic unit appears on one of tenlines 16 to 25 which are one of ten paying combinations. These wires areexamined sequentially starting with the pay having the mostsignificance, and proceeding to the lowest significance. If any of theseexaminations show that a particular pay exists, a pay-up mechanism isinitiated at the same time as a number is generated corresponding to thenumber of coins allotted to that particular pay. When the number ofcoins has been ejected by the machine corresponding to that pay value acomparison mechanism causes the pay mechanism to stop and the machine isthen ready for another operation.

To achieve the examination of the pay-out lines 16 to 25 a shiftregister 26 containing ten stages is preset so that the first stage isenergised. The output from the first stage is combined with the pay lineused for the most significant pay in a logical AND function 27. If bothinputs to the AND function are at logical 1 the corresponding line 28 inthe pay-out matrix is energised thus energising the appropriate numberinto the comparison mechanism 29. Simultaneously the logical OR 30-function examines all ten outputs from the logic unit todetermine'whether a pay actually exists. When a pay exists the pay-outmechanism 31 is inititaed which ejects coins from the machine andsimultaneously causes a counter 32 to record the number of coins. Whenthe electrical content of the counter equals the number set by thepay-out matrix the comparison mechanism stops the payout mechanism.

The clock unit 33 of FIG. 4 contains timing information to control thesequence of events in the computer. This can be roughly divided into twoequal periodsthe first period being allotted to encode the reel positioninto information suitable for processing in the logic unit. The secondperiod is allotted to controlling the stepping on of the shift register26 to examine sequentially the payout wires 16 to 25 from the logic unit15.

Referring to FIG. 5 the positional information from the poker machinereel after processing electronically by the S-reel encoders numbered 1'to 5 is examined by the ten exclusive OR functions A to K to determineequality or inequality existing in the ten possible unique pairs whichmay be selected from the encode information from the reel. In thiscomparison only the electrical signals corresponding to the four bitnumbers for the face value of the cards is used since the informationregarding the suit is not relevant. At the beginning of the sequence ofevents during one play of the machine the ten bistable elements labelledFF sufiix A to FF sufiix K are reset to their logical 1 state. Theoutputs from the exclusive OR functions labelled A through to K areconnected to the corresponding bistable elements such that if aninequality exists between any pair selected from the encode informationthe bistable element is set to a logical O.

As previously described each reel encoder is presented with a 4 binaryword representing the number displayed on the associated reel andderived from the positional sensing mechanism on the reel. This 4 bitbinary word is processed in the reel encoder 1 to 5' so that a train ofpulses containing a number of pulses equal to the 4 original decimalnumber is presented to the logic unit 15. Thus we have the S-reelencoders presenting the logic unit with a train of pulses from eachrepresentative of the card number information. These trains of pulsesare then examined by the exclusive OR functions for equality aspreviously described.

For convenience the arrangement to be described, in the case of onepair, pays only when pairs exist on adjacent reels, and the equipmentrequired for this is shown in FIG. 6. Referring first to FIG. 5 if theoutputs from reel 1 and reel 2 have the same value the bistable elementlabelled FF will remain in the one state. Similarly if the outputs fromreels 2 and 3, 3 and 4, and 4 and 5 are equal bistable elements FF PFand FF will remain in the one state. Accordingly the outputs A, B, C, Dfrom bistable elements FF FF FF -FF respectively are applied to the ORfunction 34 in FIG. 6. If a pair of cards exists on any two adjacentreels the OR function 34 will present to the output line the informationthat a pair does in fact exist. The amplifiers marked 1 in this andother figures are inverting amplifiers.

FIG. 7 shows the test for 2 pairs of cards. Referring again to FIG. 5,if for example the outputs from reel encoders 1' and 2' are equal andthe outputs from the reel encoders 3' and 4 are also equal, the bistableelements FF and PF will remain at the logical 1 state. Referring to theuppermost section of FIG. 7 it can be seen that the outputs A and C fromFF and FF are applied to a logical AND function 38 such that if they areboth at the one state they will combine to produce a logical 1 state atthe input to the OR function 37 showing that two pairs exist on theoutput line, the two pairs being reels 1 and 2 being equal and 3 and 4being equal. All possible combinations of tWo pairs are similarlydetermined in the logic diagram of FIG. 4. Reading from the top one ofthe AND functions in FIG. 7, an output from the respective AND functionwill represent pairs on the reels as set out in the following table.

AND function: Reels Reels 38 1 and 2 and 3 and 4 39 1 and 2 and 3 and 540 1 and 2 and 4 and 5 41 1 and 3 and 2 and 4 42 1 and 3 and 2 and 5 431 and 3 and 4 and 5 44 1 and 4 and 2 and 3 45 1 and 4 and 2 and 5 46 1and 4 and 3 and 5 47 1 and 5 and 2 and 3 48 1 and 5 and 2 and 4 49 1 and5 and 3 and 4 50 2 and 3 and 4 and 5 51 2 and 4 and 3 and 5 52 2 and 5and 3 and 4 It will be noted that if one input A to K to an AND functionrelates to a particular pair of reels, then the other input must notrelate to either of those reels. Thus since the input A relates to reels1 and 2 it is combined only with inputs C, H and D since the otherinputs B, E, F, G, J and K all are dependent upon one or other of reels1 and 2.

The equipment for testing for three-of-a-kind is shown in FIG. 9. If theoutputs from reel encoders 1, 2', 3 are equal, for example, the outputsfrom bistable elements FF and FF will be at logical 1. These outputs arecombined in the logical AND function 60- of FIG. 9 to produce a logical1 input to the 0R function 53. This will present to the output line alogical 1 indicating that reels 1, 2 and 3 have the same number.Similarly the other nine logical AND functions 61 to 69 shown in thisfigure test for all possible combinations of three-of-a-kind. Indescending order of the AND functions, an output represents three cardsof the same number on AND function: Reels 60 1, 2 and 3 61 1, 2 and 4 621, 2 and 63 1, 3 and 4 64 1, 3 and 5 65 1, 4 and 5 66 2, 3 and 4 67 2, 3and 5 68 2, 4 and 5 69 3, 4 and 5 It will be noted that the pairscompared all have one reel in common. Thus the inputs to the ANDfunction 60 are A and B which relate to reels 1, 2 and 2, 3respectively-they thus have in common reel 2.

FIG. 8 shows the logical diagram to determine the presence of a FullHouse. The requirement for a full house is that three cards be of thesame number and the remaining two be of the same number, not necessarilyall cards be of the same number. Thus to determine whether a full houseis present in the reel positions information from the three of a kindtest and each one of the possible pairs is combined in the logic diagramof FIG. 8 to determine the presence of a full house. Thus the output A,B from the three-of-a-kind test of FIG. 9 is applied along with theoutput from the bistable element FF of FIG. 5, whose output depends uponthe state of the two reels not involved in the three-of-a-kind test, tothe logical AND function 70. If logical 1 is applied to both inputs of70, then an output will appear indicating three-of-a-kind on reels 1, 2and 3 and a pair on reels 4 and 5. Outputs appearing on the other ANDfunctions indicate the following Full Houses.

AND function Three-of-a-kind, reels Pair, reels 70 1, 2, 3 4, 5 71 1, 2,4 3, 5 72 1, 2, 5 3, 4 73 1, 3, 4 2, 5 74 1, 3, 5 2, 3 75 1, 4, 5 2, 376 2, 3, 4 1, 5 77 2, 3, s 1, 4 7S 2, 4, 5 1, 3 79 3 4, 5 1, 2

FIG. determines the presence of 4 cards of the same number, the four ofa kind test. Referring to FIG. 5, if reel encoders 1', 2', 3' and 4'have the same number then bistable elements FF FF FF will remain on theone state. These three logical 1 levels A, B, C are combined in thelogical AND function 80 which presents a logical 1 level to the ORfunction 85 which indicates on the output lines that reels 1, 2, 3 and 4have the same number. Similarly outputs from the remaining AND functions81 to 84 represent four-of-a-kind on the reels according to thefollowing table.

AND function: Reels FIG. 11 contains the logical mechanism to determinethe presence of a straight. A straight in poker is a running sequence ofcards, a typical example being 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, not necessarily in thatorder in the window of the poker machine. The outputs of each reelencoder are combined in a logical AND function 86 and also in a logicalOR function 87. Due to the fact that reel positions are encoded in atrain of pulses the logical AND function will only present a logical oneoutput when all five pulses are present. Thus the number of pulsescoming from the logical AND function 86 must be equal to the leastnumber of pulses presented to all its inputs. Thus we have determinedthe smallest number from the reel encoders. The OR function 87 will givea logical 1 level when any of its inputs is at logical 1. Thus from thelogical OR function is presented the biggest number from the reelencoders. The lines containing the smallest and biggest number arecompared in an exclusive OR function 88A which determines the differencebetween them. This difference is applied to a 4 stage binary counter 88,89, 90, 91 which had been previously reset to the 0 state at thebeginning of the sequence of operations in the machine cycle. Thecounter then proceeds to count the number of pulses from the exclusiveOR function 88A. Then the content of the counter is examined by the ANDfunction 92 to determine whether or not this count is equal to four.This AND function is inhibited if any pair exists i.e. if any two wheelshave the same number. This is achieved by the OR function 93 to whichare applied all of the inputs A to K from the bistable elements FF to FFof FIG. 5. If any pair exists a logical 1 level will appear at theoutput from the OR function 93 which is applied to the AND function 92.Thus the condition for a straight has been established, that is, thatthe smallest and biggest number from the reels are separated by four andthey must be in a running sequence because the possibility of a pairexisting has been eliminated. When all these conditions are met theoutput from the straight test would be a logical 1 level.

The logic diagram of FIG. 12 performs the necessary examination of thereel positions to determine the presence of a flush. A flush is definedas 5 cards of the same suit displayed in the viewing window. The numberof the card shown is immaterial. As described earlier the suitinformation is contained on the reels as a 2 bit binary word forming thelast 2 characters on the 6 bit information on the reel. These 2 bitsallow 4 possible combinations covering the four suits of the playingcards such as combinations set out in the table at the top of FIG. 12.The two bits from the wheel encoder 1 are represented by X1 and Y1 inthe wheel pickups 94, 95, the two bits from the wheel encoder 2' and X2and Y2 in the wheel pickups 96, 97, and so on. The output from pickup 94is applied to the inverting amplifier 104 to provide the complement X1is also applied to the inverting amplifier 105 to provide the output X1.Similarly is connected to the inverting amplifiers 106 and 107 toprovide the outputs Y 1 and Y1. It will be seen that it is only if theoutput from 94 is 0 that the output X1 is a logical l, and similarly forall the outputs from the pickups 94 to 103. In the code chosen, heartsis represented by a logical 0 for both bits, and a flush in hearts isindicated only if all the outputs from 94 to 103 are Os. Accordingly aflush in hearts is indicated if all the complements X1 to Y5 are atlogical 1. These complements are applied to the 10 input AND gate 124which will therefore present a logical 1 to the OR gate 126 only if aflush in hearts exists. Similarly all the outputs X1 to X5 and T1 to Y5are applied to the AND gate 125, which will present a logical 1 if afiush in diamonds exist, the outputs X 1 to X 5 to Y1 to Y5 are appliedto the AND gate 127 which will present a logical 1 if a flush in clubsexists, and the outputs X1 to X5 and Y1 to Y5 are applied to the ANDgate 128 which will present a logical 1 only if a flush in spadesexists. As before the logical 1 at the output of the OR gate 126 isamplified and fed to the Pay logic section of the computer.

FIG. 13 contains the logic necessary to determine the presence of arunning flush. A running flush consists of a straight in the same unit.Thus the outputs from the straight test and flush test of FIGS. 11 and12 are examined in the logical AND function 129. If they are both atlogical 1 a running flush exists.

FIG. 14 contains a logic necessary to determine the presence of a royalroutine. A royal routine is defined as five cards in the same suit being10 Jack Queen King Ace. It can be seen that the sequence of cards is thesame as a straight but starting at a particular point greater than 9.Thus the logic will only respond to an output from the straight test ifthat output has occurred for any reel encoder being greater than 9. Thisoutput has to be coincident with a logical 1 from the flush test tocomply with the requirements for a royal routine. If all theseconditions are fulfilled the logical 1 appears at the output for theroyal routine test.

Referring to the logic diagram, Toggle circuit U is set by the 9th clockpulse, and this enables the AND gate 131 Which is fed from point M inthe straight test( FIG. 11). This part of the logic permits signals fromcards 10 or higher only entering the three-stage binary counter 132,133, 134. These signals are counted and if the r e are four input pulsesthe levels at point V, W and Z will enable the five input AND gate 135.The other 2 inputs: one from the Plush test and the other N from theStraight test (which performs the same safeguard against a Pair)complete the logic requirement for a Royal Routine.

FIG. 15 contains a logical function for determining a gold award. A goldaward is a paying combination not found in poker but sometimes founddesirable for certain customers of poker machines. This test is achievedby allotting the number 15 to the gold award card on the reel. The testis carried out by a logical AND function 136 which combines the outputsfrom each reel encoder 1 to 5' with the 15th pulse from the timingclock. If all inputs to the logical AND function exist then a logical 1appears on the output of the gold award test. It will be seen that allreel encoder outputs have to be a train of 15 pulses for the six inputAND gate 136 to open at the 15th pulse from the clock. If this occurstoggle circuit 137 is set and a logical l is passed on to the pay logicsection of the computer.

The preferred distribution of card faces on the 5 reels of the machineis so calculated as to provide as random an occurrence of cards aspossible consistent with a true hand of poker and the statisticalpayment required. Each reel may accommodate 16 cards (excluding goldaward) giving a total of 80 positions to be filled by only 52 cards in astandard pack. This may be done for example by duplication of 28 cards,preferably in the higher suits, with identical cards occurring on thesame reel to avoid the same card occurring twice in the one hand.Duplication of every card is a possible alternative by using sevens andup in each suit as indeed many other combinations may be determined.However this latter distribution provides the least range of hands,which is undesirable. The general concept nevertheless remains the guidenamely to provide as many different S-card hands as possible.

What is claimed is:

1. A poker machine comprising five reels on which indicia representingindividual cards of a deck of cards are displayed, winning combinationsbeing characterized by particular combinations of indicia displayed in awindow, each reel having on one side thereof a plurality of concentrictracks each formed by conductive parts and nonconductive parts, means toapply a potential to the conductive parts, said potential on aconductive part corresponding to a logical bit of digital information,means for sensing the potentials on the tracks at the positioncorresponding to the indicia displayed, a logic unit connected toreceive said sensed potentials as electrical information in binarydigital form, means for examining outputs from the logic unitsequentially starting with the combination having the most significanceand proceeding to the lowest significance, means to generate a numbercorresponding to the number of coins allotted to a particularcombination if the examination shows that that particular combinationexists, and means to dispense a number of coins equal to said numbergenerated.

2. A poker machine as claimed in claim 1, in which the indicia comprisesthe values of the cards encoded on said tracks as a four bit binarynumber, the suits of the cards encoded on said tracks as a two bitbinary number and a pictorial representation of the cards about thecircumference of said reels.

3. A poker machine as claimed in claim 1, in which the logic unitcomprises means to determine pairs comprising exclusive OR circuitsequal in number to the number of combinations of the reels taken two ata time, means to apply the digital information from the reels in pairsto the exclusive OR circuits, and one means for each exclusive ORcircuit giving a pair output when two identical pieces of digitalinformation are applied to the exclusive O'R circuits.

4. A poker machine as claimed in claim 3, in which means to generate anumber comprises an OR circuit, means to apply said pairs outputcorresponding to the comparisons between adjacent reels to the ORcircuit, means to generate a number equal to the number of coins for apair when the OR circuit gives an output.

5. A poker machine as claimed in claim 4, in which the logic unitfurther comprises means to determine two pairs comprising a plurality ofAND circuits, means to apply said pairs outputs in pairs to the ANDcircuits in such manner that the second pair output does not includedigital information from either of the reels which provided informationfor the first pair output, an OR circuit fed by said AND circuits, andmeans responsive to the output from said OR circuit to generate a twopair output from the logic unit when the OR circuit output indicatesthat two sets of equal information have been taken from the reels.

6. A poker machine as claimed in claim 5, in which the logic unitfurther comprises means to determine three of a kind comprising a secondplurality of AND circuits, means to apply said pairs outputs in pairs tosaid second plurality of AND circuits in such manner that the secondpair output includes digital information for the first pair output, anOR circuit fed by all said AND circuits, and means responsive to theoutput from said OR circuit to generate a three of a kind output fromthe logic unit when the OR circuit output indicates that three sets ofequal information have been taken from the reels.

7. A poker machine as claimed in claim 6, in which the logic unitfurther comprises means to determine a full house comprising a first setof ten AND circuits, means to apply said pairs outputs in pairs to saidfirst set of AND circuits in such manner that the second pair outputincludes digital information on the state of one reel which providesdigital information for the first pair output, a second set of ten ANDcircuits, each AND circuit of the second set having applied to it theoutput from one of the AND circuits of the first set that output of thepair outputs which indicates the states of the two reels which have notprovided information for the first set of AND circuits, an OR circuitfed by all said second set of AND circuits, and means responsive to theoutput from said OR circuit to generate a full house output from thelogic unit when the OR circuit output indicates that two sets of equalinformation and three sets of equal information have been taken from thereels.

8. A poker machine as claimed in claim 7, in which the logic unitfurther comprises means to determine four of a kind comprising aplurality of AND circuits equal to the number of combinations of thereels taken four at a time, each AND circuit having applied to it threeof the pair outputs, such that in each set of three outputs the firstand second outputs are derived from digital information which includesinformation from a common reel, and the second and third outputs arederived from digital mformation which includes information from a secondcommon reel, and an OR circuit fed by all of said AND clrcuits, andmeans responsive to the output from said OR circuit to generate anoutput from the logic unit when the OR circuit output indicates thatfour identical sets of digital information have been taken from thereels.

9. A poker machine as claimed in claim 1, wherein the reels bear indiciacorresponding to the cards of a deck of playing cards, the suits of thecards being encoded on said tracks as a two bit binary number, and inwhich said logic unit further comprises means to determine the suitscomprising four AND circuits, means to apply the encoded suitinformation from the reels to the AND circuit which relates to saidsuit, an OR circuit fed by all said AND circuits, and means responsiveto an output from said OR circuit to generate an output from the logicunit when the OR circuit output indicates that five identical sets ofsuit information have been taken from the reels.

10. A poker machine as claimed in claim 1, in which said logic unitfurther comprises means to determine a straight comprising an ANDcircuit to which the digital outputs from all reels are applied, an ORcircuit to which the digital outputs from all reels are applied, anexclusive OR circuit to which the output of the AND circuit and the ORcircuit are applied, a counter to which the output from the exclusive ORcircuit is applied, an AND circuit to examine the state of the counterand determine whether the count is equal to four, means to inhibit thelast mentioned AND circuit if a pair exists, and means responsive to theoutput from the last mentioned AND circuit to generate an output fromthe logic unit when this last mentioned output indicates informationdenoting a straight has been taken from the reels.

1 1. A poker machine as claimed in claim 10, wherein the reels bearindicia corresponding to the cards of a deck of playing cards, the suitsof the cards being encoded on said tracks as a two bit binary number,and in which said logic unit further comprises means to determine thesuits comprising four AND circuits, means to apply the encoded suitinformation from the reels to the AND circuit which relates to saidsuit, an OR circuit fed by all said AND circuits, and flush determiningmeans responsive to an output from said OR circuit to generate an outputfrom the logic unit when the OR circuit output indicates that fiveidentical sets of suit information have been taken from the reels,further comprising a further AND circuit to which the output from thestraight determining means is applied, a three stage binary counter fedfrom the said further AND circuit, a five input AND circuit fed from thethree counter stages with the outputs from the flush determining meansand the straight determining means, whereby an output from the logicunit is generated when a straight flush is displayed by the machine.

12. A poker machine as claimed in claim 11, further comprising means forgenerating a series of clock pulses, each pulse being indicative of ahigher sequential numerical value of a suit, and means to enable saidfurther AND circuit only after a ninth clock pulse so that the lowestnumerical value of the suit displayed is ten whereby an output from saidlogic unit is generated when a straight flush of low number 10, called aroyal routine, is displayed by the machine.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,812,182 11/1957 Fiorino 273143FOREIGN PATENTS 280,649 2/ 1968 Australia. 60,734 3/1943 Denmark.785,313 5/1935 France. 1,107,552 3/1968 Great Britain.

ANTON O. OECHSLE, Primary Examiner A. W. KRAMER, Assistant Examiner

